There’s a sort of running gag at work: “Hey, look at this cool thing I wrote.” “Yes, but can you do it in one line of python?” This happened when we started talking about interview questions that my manager likes to use. His current favorite is: Given a matrix, list the elements in clock-wise spiral order. For example:

In my day job, I sometimes come across little programming puzzles that are sort of related to, but have no real use in my current project. They usually result in little snippets of code or random techniques that I’ll file away in the “curios” section of my brain.

So the other day, I needed to make a histogram of data that lived in MySQL. So here’s a quick and dirty way.

OK, after a ten-year hiatus, I’m gonna try my hand at blogging again. Blog technology has come a long way since Xanga, but the hardest part is still getting yourself to sit down and write the damned things. Makes you wonder how our forefathers had perseverance to quill in his paper diary by oil lamp every night.